This invention relates to photographing apparatuses such as lens-fitted film units and photo cameras of simple structures. More particularly, this invention relates to a photographing apparatus provided with a focusing position selecting mechanism which allows the photographer to set selectively two or more focusing points of a taking lens when taking a photo. Further more particularly, this invention relates to a finder mechanism which is suitable for application to products of simple structures provided with photographing functions, for example, such as lens-fitted film units and photo cameras of simple structures.
A lens-fitted film unit, which includes a photographing mechanism containing a taking lens and a shutter with an unexposed film roll previously loaded in the main body in the process of manufacture, is published, for example, in Japanese registered utility model publication No.2,564,847. This lens-fitted film unit is so constituted as to wind up the exposed film into the cartridge each time a picture is taken, and so the user buys the unit and takes the unit itself to a photo developing shop to have it developed after the film roll has been finished. Therefore, the unit has gained wide market acceptance as a convenient and functional photographing product. This lens-fitted film unit generally uses a single lens or two-piece lens structure in order to simplify the structure and bring down the cost of manufacture. This taking lens is fixed to the main body and focused on one particular focusing position. Therefore, the out-of-focus condition must be avoided by making the depth of field of the taking lens greater for objects which are not at the focused distance. However, various kinds of lens-fitted film units have recently been developed in respect to picture sizes and focal lengths of the taking lens, and so multifunctional products are much sought after.
In such diversified lens-fitted film units, it is required to properly set focusing positions in the process of manufacture in case it uses a long-focus taking lens, and so it is necessary to adopt a variety of schemes for the lens-focusing mechanism. For example, in the publication of Japanese laid-open patent publication Hei7-261069, a mechanism furnished with such a focusing mechanism as to focus a taking lens precisely and fix it to the setting position in the process of manufacture of a lens-fitted film unit furnished with a telephotographic lens, is disclosed. However, even in such a lens-fitted film unit, it is not possible to shift the focusing position to a plurality of focusing positions because the lens is fixed to the predetermined position. Taking such situations into consideration, it is preferred that lens-fitted film units and other cameras of simple structures can be applied to a plurality of different photographing situations such as normal photographing, and photographing of distant objects, and that they can take pictures properly focused while using a single taking lens or a two-piece-lens structure. A lens-fitted film unit, which is constituted to be able to take close-up photos in the proximity of within 60 cm with a reflex finder capable of moving in and out to allow the photographer to confirm the field and take photos of himself included in the field, is also suggested in the publication of Japanese laid-open patent publication Hei10-200834. The lens-fitted film unit disclosed in the publication can not be applied to a plurality of situations such as close-up photographing, normal photographing, and photographing of distant objects because the lens-fitted film unit does not have a plurality of focusing positions.
It is an object of this invention to provide photographing apparatuses such as lens-fitted film units and other cameras of simple structures which can be applied to a plurality of situations such as close-up photographing, normal photographing, and photographing of distant objects, and which have a viewfinder permitting the photographer to observe the photographing field and take photos of himself included in the field at the time of close-up photographing.
In order to solve the previously described problem, the lens-fitted film unit according to this invention includes a photographing mechanism provided in the main body and having a shutter, the body being formed with a film cartridge chamber for storing a cartridge having a rotatable spool shaft retaining one end of a photo film, and a film roll chamber for loading a roll of an unexposed film drawn out from the cartridge in the cartridge chamber; the cartridge and the roll of the unexpected film being loaded during manufacture of the unit respectively in the cartridge chamber and the film roll chamber whereby each time a photo is taken, a spool is rotated to take up the exposed film into the cartridge, a selector member being provided for selectively changing a focusing position of a taking lens between a predetermined normal photographing position and a close-up photographing position. In an alternative structure, a lens-fitted film unit may include a cylindrical lens holding member fixed to a unit body and a lens frame having a taking lens fitted thereto and disposed in the cylindrical lens holding member for rotation and movement along an optical axis, a cam mechanism being located between the cylindrical lens holding member and the lens frame, a selector member provided in the unit body for movement between a predetermined normal photographing position and a close-up photographing position for causing the lens frame to rotate to thereby produce in the lens frame a movement through the action of the cam in the direction of the optical axis. According to a feature of this invention, a photographing viewfinder is provided in the lens-fitted film unit, and the photographing finder may be provided with a reflective mirror which allows to observe a photographing field from the front of the unit when performing close-up photographing.
In the lens-fitted film unit according to this invention, by handling the selector member, the focusing position of the taking lens can be determined at, for example, 4 m position, and 60 cm position. In another mode, the arrangement may be such that the taking lens can be focused at either of the three positions including, for example, the infinitely far position, 4 m position, and 60 cm position. And it is possible to include the photographer himself in the photographing area by observing the photographing field from the front portion of the reflective mirror when selecting the 60 cm position for close-up photographing.
In the lens-fitted film unit of this invention, the selector member may be formed integral therewith a mirror shield, which may be retracted from position in front of the reflective mirror when the selector member is at the close-up position permitting to observe the photographing field by the reflective mirror, and the mirror shield, may be held in a position for shielding the reflective mirror when the selector member is at the normal photographing position making it impossible to observe the photographing field through the mirror. In another mode of this invention, the selector lever may be integrally provided with a close-up field frame which is moved to a position overlapping the photographing field finder when the selector member is in the close-up photographing position for compensating the parallax between the taking lens and the finder field, the close-up field frame being positioned to overlap the front face of the reflective mirror when the selector is at the normal photographing position to indicate at the front of the unit that the unit is in the normal photographing position. In another mode of the present invention, an indicator mark may be provided to interact with the movement of the selector member to be located in front of the reflective mirror when the selector member is in the normal photographing position to indicate at the front of the unit that the unit is in the normal photographing position. In the lens-fitted film unit of the present invention, the main body may be provided on the front side thereof with a light emitting portion, and the selector member may be formed integral therewith a light-shielding member which covers at least partly the front side of the light emitting portion for restricting the quantity of the light from the light emitting portion. This light-shielding member can be constituted to cover at least part of the reflective mirror in the normal photographing position.
Further, this invention provides a photo camera comprising a photographing mechanism including a taking lens of a fixed focal length and a shutter mechanism, a selector member for moving the taking lens to one of a plurality of focusing positions including a close-up photographing position and a normal photographing position and a reflecting mirror fixedly provided adjacent to, for example, at a side of photographing field finder for making it possible to observe the photographing field from the front side of the camera. In one mode of the photo camera, the selector member may be formed integral therewith a mirror shield which is adapted to be retracted from the reflecting mirror when the selector member is at the close-up photographing position, to make it possible to observe the photographing field, and to cover the mirror when the selector member is at the normal photographing position to thereby shield the reflective mirror preventing the reflective mirror from being used to observe the photographing field through the reflective mirror.
In this photo camera, a close-up field frame may also be provided integrally with the selector member so that it compensates the parallax between the taking lens and the finder field by being placed over the front portion of the photographing field finder when the selector member is in the close-up photographing position, and adapted to indicate at the front portion of the unit that the camera is in the normal photographing position by being placed over the front portion of the reflective mirror when the selector is at the normal photographing position. In another mode, an indication mark is provided on the front portion of the reflective mirror to indicate, in response to the movement of the selector member, on the front portion of the unit that the camera is in the normal photographing position when the selector member is located at the normal photographing position. A light-shielding member may also be provided integrally with the selector member to limit the amount of light from the light emitting portion by being placed over at least part of the light emitting portion when the selector member is in the close-up photographing position. The light-shielding member can be so formed that the light-limiting member shields at least part of the mirror.
In another embodiment of this invention, a lens-fitted film unit includes a photographing mechanism including a shutter in the main body, the body-bing formed with a cartridge chamber for storing a cartridge having a rotatable spool shaft retaining one end of a photo film, and a roll film chamber for storing a roll of unexposed film drawn out from the cartridge, a cartridge and a roll of unexpected film drawn out from the cartridge being loaded during manufacture in the cartridge chamber and the film roll chamber respectively, whereby each time a photo is taken, the spool shaft is rotated to wind the film up into the cartridge, a selector member being provided to selectively locate the focusing position at either the normal photographing position or the close-up photographing position. Alternatively, the body of the lens-fitted film unit may have a cylindrical lens holding member secured thereto, a lens frame having a taking lens fixed thereto and disposed in the cylindrical lens holding member for rotation and movement along the optical axis, a cam mechanism provided between the lens holding member and the lens frame, and a selector member provided in the body for movement between a predetermined normal photographing position and a close-up photographing position to cause the lens frame to rotate to thereby produce a movement of the lens frame in the direction of the optical axis through the action of the cam mechanism. According to the feature of the invention, in the lens-fitted film unit, a photographing field finder is provided, and in the front of the field finder a translucent member is located in such a way that an object can be observed through the finder. When the selector member is at the close-up photographing position, the lightshielding portion serves to decrease the brightness of the background of the translucent member, so that an apparent reflection of the translucent member is increased to make it possible to observe the photographing field from the front portion of the unit.
The translucent member located in front of the photographing viewfinder, has such translucence that an object can be observed through the finder from the back side of the unit at the normal photographing position. In a preferred mode of this invention, this translucent member is a half-mirror made of a transparent material having a reflective material vapor deposited thereon. The half-mirror is preferably of relatively low reflectance for the purpose of the invention, so that the ratio of reflectance to translucence is to be 0:10 or 5:5. Reflectance 0 means that the translucent material is supposed to be transparent, but even in such a case insertion of a light-shielding member into the back of the translucent member may cause the translucent member to produce reflection, permitting the photographing field to be observed from the front side of the unit.
In another aspect of the invention, the selector member is provided integrally with a close-up field frame which is adapted to be placed over the photographing filed finder for indicating the area of close-up photographing and compensate the parallax between the filed of the taking lens and the finder field when the selector member is at the close-up photographing position, and the light-shielding member is placed on this close-up frame. Further, in the lens-fitted film unit according to this invention, a light emitting portion may be placed in the front portion of the main body. The selector member may be formed integrally with the light-shielding member which functions to restrict the light from the stroboscope by shielding at least part of the front portion of the light emitting portion. This light-shielding member can be so constituted as to shield at least part of the reflective mirror.
Further, the present invention provides a photo camera furnished with a fixed focus taking lens, a photographing mechanism including a shutter mechanism, and a selector member which selects among a plurality of focal positions including the close-up photographing position and the normal photographing position. In this camera a field finder can also be constituted similar to a lens-fitted film unit.